In this corporate-sponsored cartoon, Martian dissidents learn that oil and competition are the two things that make America great.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Sutherland (John) Productions
Sponsor: American Petroleum Institute
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Economics; Oil industry; Advertising: Animation

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: USABG58 - - August 23, 2011
Subject: Oil-based economy isn't sustainable, is it?
Cute animation. I liked it. Now: I couldn't help but think of all the pollution the planet Mars is about to reap, maybe some global warming, assuming that's a real threat and I do. Notice the Martians had space-travel first. And look up how much stuff the Soviets put on the moon at the beginning of the space-race. Also, economies of Soviet and satillite states was OK for some in the cities from sixties to late eighties. My Bulgarian wife can attest. The U.S. lifestyle was superior, socialist-state wasn't half-bad for some. I'm a libertarian and hate socialism's faults, but there were lots of people enjoying life under socialism, I've learned. No freedom of thought, but materialistically it was probably better than more U.S. would guess for a lot of socialists--OK apartments, cars,reasonably-priced goods in some categories. But capitalism in the west was better, but capitalism existed under socialism, -don't kid yourself-. So, this film is 75% spot on, not 100% as the makers would hope.

Reviewer: NicolaBattista.net - - July 6, 2010
Subject: Used as the basis for a new music video! :)
Check this: http://blip.tv/file/3619925

The track is Agua Calientes vs. Relative Depth "Revolution Remix R.D." (taken from this release: www.cdbaby.com/AguaCalientes)

"Destination Earth" seemed perfect for it, once removed most references to oil and capitalism. :D

Reviewer: Dodsworth the Cat - - May 8, 2010
Subject: Some Top Talent
John Sutherland found good people when he could get them. Just going off the top of my head:

Carl Urbano, George Gordon and Joe Montell were at MGM. Tom Oreb was a top Disney designer. So was Vic Haboush, who died less than two months ago. Ken O'Brien was at Disney and later at Lantz in the later 1940s. Tom Ray moved on to Warners and he and Earl Jonas both worked with Chuck Jones at MGM in the '60s. George Cannata bounced from the east coast (Fleischer) to the west (briefly at Warners).

Bill Scott had been at Warners and UPA. He despised his experience at Sutherland making propaganda films and comments on in it 'The Moose That Roared.' How fortunate for the cartoon world he ended up at Jay Ward.

Russ Von Neida was later the head of the Screen Cartoonists Guild.

Marvin Miller is doing the voices. Straight narration in character is quite an accomplishment.

The layouts are just tremendous in this.

I presume the music is from a stock library. It sounds like something you'd hear on a UPA cartoon.

Reviewer: Metacrock - - October 20, 2009
Subject: Destination Earth
Gee, I don't see any traces of the cold war in this one do you? 1956, he year I was born, the Martians discover competition and oil will topple dictators. What a simple world I was born into.

Despite it's heavy handed propagandist cold war vibes I'm giving it a good rating because it's a priceless artifact of a by gone era.

Reviewer: woodsj - - April 19, 2008
Subject: Re: Spaceship Fuel
"It's comical how the "Martian" can come all the way to earth in a spaceship, but, in order to drive their "lousy" cars back on Mars, they need "oil" like what's found on earth! Ha ha! Big gap in the story?"

As you can see in the cartoon, he used oggsplosive power to get the ship to Earth, oggviously. ;)

Reviewer: JudgeBear69 - - February 23, 2008
Subject: Great for ART's sake & nothing else
Wow, like the last reviewer said, too many people are getting all bent over an OLD [why do you think it's IN the "archive"???] animated short film.

It's great to watch for the "art". Fans of animation [like myself] will like this film for THIS reason alone.

It's comical how the "Martian" can come all the way to earth in a spaceship, but, in order to drive their "lousy" cars back on Mars, they need "oil" like what's found on earth! Ha ha! Big gap in the story?

Also, anyone who's looking for symbolism in this film with "todays" oil & political situation must really be easily offended or duped. [??]

It's great animation! That's all!

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - January 15, 2008
Subject: Facinating
I love how some people are so negative around here, It as if today's world is "Perfect" or something (Oh really? A world of Terrorism, Business Monopolies and a divided nation is "Perfect"?!?!). Anyway, I've seen this film before, It's effective propaganda, Much more entertaining than today's annoying, boring and cloying propaganda like Fox News and BBC World. BTW, I'm not conservative or american, Just annoyed by the assholes on IA.

Reviewer: MajorShyGuy - - November 5, 2007
Subject: Destination Propaganda
The only thing that I can think of to describe this is:
115% Pure Propaganda
Easily Digestable and Made in America

side effects may include: Jingoistic behavior, Tendancy to oversimplify the enemy, High susceptibility to the Red Herring/Chewbacca Defense and repetition/jingle propaganda.

Reviewer: bread - - November 20, 2006
Subject: Crappy, Sorry I mean CLASSIC cartoon!
From the film archives come this campy peice of crap thats so cute I cant help but love it. It's propaganda, and while I still hate the oil companys, It's A wonderful cartoon, Campy and weird, Stupid and Facinating. As a cartoon, it's very entertaining, With cute gags and jokes. As propaganda, It's somewhat dated, With it's messages unconvining. When it was new, It might of worked. I wonder how my nanny would feel if I showed her this? Do you love to make fun of crap films? Then you will love this. Aliens that write in english, Leaders destoyed by pressing a button, Awful dialog, It has it all. I hate the oil companys, But hey, I love this film! (maybe it was the huge amount of pepsi I had?) (laugh!)

Reviewer: jimelena - - August 18, 2006
Subject: Oil our God
Bush could use this now to expand his vocabulary.
The cartoon certainly carries the Bush agenda.
Can you count the propaganda messages?

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - January 21, 2006
Subject: Capitalism and Oil Drilling for Dummies
This animated bit of capitalist propaganda features a Martian from a totalitarian Martian society who comes to Earth to find out what makes the Earthmobiles so darned efficient, so he can repair the Head MartianÃÂs limousine. By doing research in a public library, he discovers that oil and free-market competition make America great, so he goes back to Mars to preach this gospel (obviously the stack of books that he steals from the library donÃÂt contain titles about air and water pollution, Middle-Eastern politics, robber barons, or the Great Depression). This inspires the Martians so much that they all go out to drill oil wells, while the totalitarian leader is conquered simply by pushing a self-destruct buttonÃÂÃÂthat he was defeated so easily really makes you wonder about the intelligence of the Martian race. This is propaganda, to be sure, but itÃÂs delightfully animated, genuinely funny in spots, and less strident than many films of its kind. The bright colors and 50s cute-style animation won me over, frankly, though IÃÂm not about to drill any oil wells any time soon.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Reviewer: jr0dy - - December 26, 2005
Subject: Makes Economic Sense
This was a great piece of animation and an even better explanation of market forces. Essentially, Ogg is any statist, command economy that publicly owns the means of production - most likely an allusion to Stalin, particularly because of his mustache. The sequence that shows the Martian energy source as an enslaved Martian running on a gear is probably allegorical for the fact that under Stalin's rule, his economic plan consisted primarily of collectivizing farms, seizing all crops produced, and selling them and using the money to invest in state-owned industry, despite the mass starvation of those working the farms. A theme of Austrian economics, particularly F.A. Hayek's variety, is the fact that collectivism is slavery - which is exactly what it is shown as in this film. Competition, the use of market forces to more efficiently distribute scarce resources, is obviously the better alternative. I also loved the way in which Ogg arbitrarily chose the Earth as Colonel Cosmic's destination - a great critique of central planning, as essentially all decisions made by planners are misinformed and to a large degree arbitrary. Only the free market can provide reliable information and provide a guide as to where resources would be best allocated. In addition, I particularly enjoyed the way in which it showed that the oil industry has its own costs with which it must contend, showing why it cannot simply be distributed freely, as some people seem to think it should be. Furthermore, price acts as a signal and a method through which oil can be rationed and distributed to those that need it most urgently. When price is high, it acts as a signal not only to current oil producers to rev-up production and increase quantity supplied, but also acts as a signal for new producers to enter into the market. This is where competition comes into play. The more firms acting in a market, the higher the liklihood that some will invent new cost-cutting measures that will allow them to cut prices and supply the consumer with more oil at a cheaper price, essentially the paradigm of any free economic system. Our own economy was consistently a laissez-faire prior to the Progressive movement of the early 20th Century - it worked, plain and simple, and it was the most efficient and best for all involved; there is no "optimism" necessary. I do not consider this film propaganda in the least, but instead a call to return to the economic system that served us so well in the past. Sure, perhaps a laissez-faire system would be the best for the oil companies that produced this film, but the truth is it would be the best for anyone and everyone; the film serves as a great example of the way in which the private ownership of the means of production can bring about an unprecedented high standard of living, and in the Martian case, facilitate the overthrow of a totalitarian dictator. The Martians did not want to be forced into going to see Ogg and Colonel Cosmic speak, let alone labor for Ogg as he told them to, they wanted to do their own thing, decide how best to apply their own faculties and labor to better themselves - shouldn't everyone be given that ability? C'mon Americans, if the Martians gained this ability, shouldn't we reclaim it?

Reviewer: AoTres - - December 1, 2005
Subject: Oil and Competition
Interesting position the oil industry had back then. Appears our nation has become like the character ogg, who did not like competition, or maybe just determined to have one or two companies that control it all.

Reviewer: HappyMan - - January 9, 2005
Subject: A Nice Surprise
Only when the short film ended I realised that there isn't going to be any tone of criticism on its contents. That absolutely amazed me. The narration sounds just like some of the satire that was made on the subject a few decades after it happened.

Other reviewrs are correct in pointing how actually very little change was made in the world in some of the aspects that this film covers.

Reviewer: MediaWhore - - December 7, 2004
Subject: take the bus
I found this film very informative. By the time it was over I had learned quite a few things about oil production. What an appropiate time to be watching this, with our current war over Oil (opps I mean terrorism) and all. I'm also lovin the nifty retro 50's style animation goin on.

Reviewer: PreliViewerKid86 - - December 1, 2004
Subject: Ogg=Stalin
The unmistakeable mustache, the inefficient economic policies, the state limousines...I should hope this parallel was intented.
--Taylor

Reviewer: mailinator - - August 31, 2004
Subject: Fantastic!
Fantastic movie!
The energy of corporate america on the glorydays on 50ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂôs... Now it became bush, tv, fat, war, telemarketing, consuming and all the "standart stupidity".

Reviewer: Steve Nordby - - April 22, 2004
Subject:
George W. Bush as "Ogg the Exulted",
Colin Powell as "Colonel Cosmic",
WMD as petroleum (you spend a lot searching but its hard to find)

"The big secret is of course oil, which has brought a better life to all the people in the USA."

Reviewer: HuckleberryFinn - - April 12, 2004
Subject: Thank God for non-communists
A martian (probably not a native Martian, since he has to wear a helmet to breathe on Mars) heads to Earth for some reason. Comedy ensues while he learns about oil-lubricated American greatness. Decent animation (I guess) and completely worthless. 4 stars.

Reviewer: moderator - - March 18, 2004
Subject: Drink Texas Tea to Brighten Your Tomorrow!
This, bright, campy little film oepitimizes the nieve, can-do attitude of the 1950's. It tells us that if we take two glassess of oil and wash it down with laissez-faire optimism, then by morning we will have arrived at "destination unlimited" -and beaten the Ruskies to boot! I love the tacky colors and the easily recognized rural stereotypes(Pa,he's back for the chickens! Bang!)Yes, powered by our competitively obtained oil (the most efficient energy source in the world, according to this film by the Ameircan Petroleum Institute) the United States has become the greatest nation on earth. Never mind all the compromises we have to make with those shady middle-eastern countries which will bite us in the ass in the comming decades [*caugh* Saudi Arabia] Oh well, who are those ole'towel heads anyway compaired to the Soviet Union? Pass the apple pie, dear.

Reviewer: DrAwkward - - October 24, 2003
Subject: Oily
Interesting mix of cute animation, conservative capitalist dogma (including a cold-war style dis of communist dictatorship), and narration so condescending it makes you cringe. It would be amusing if it were less self-righteous and jingoistic (sort of like the Bush Administration).

Reviewer: Spuzz - - April 17, 2003
Subject: Did I not just watch 'Despotism'?
Isn't this the same thing? The fact that power hungry ruler who discovers the power of oil and thinks that competition for it is not good, and is determined to control most of the control over the oil in his planet is just a little too similar to people in command right now. Fairly fun animation though, whilst it runs just a wee bit too long.

Reviewer: pq ribber - - April 6, 2003
Subject: Amazing and Senseless
The logic that used to pass for such, as demonstrated here is downright spooky!! Great retro animation and paternalistic Petroleum Industry stuff, here. Extreme USA-centric world-view as well. You'd think all oil came from the US from watching this hokum.

Shotlist

This animated cartoon follows the adventures of "Colonel Cosmic," a Martian, as he learns that Oil and Competition are the two things that make America great. It is a sci-fi-influenced economic tract on the strengths of Earth-style free enterprise economics, compared to a stagnating Mars under the fist of a certain Mr. Ogg, who centrally controls the Martian economy. In the film, a Martian undercover agent flies from Mars to Earth to learn about the oil industry, and finds that the lack of government regimentation and control is what makes our system flourish.

Destination Earth was produced by the same company as Make Mine Freedom, and both films share a similar graphic style. But it's six years later, and the United States is still in the middle of the flying saucer craze and worried about invaders from the skies. Well, here come the Martians, and guess what? They come from a planet that looks a lot like the Soviet Union. Even though the little cosmo-creature ostensibly flies to Earth to claim territory for the autocratic Martian ruler "Mr. Ogg," he's really on an intelligence mission.
Unlike Mars, fettered by a centrally controlled command economy, Earth is prospering due to private enterprise and cheap oil. The evidence of Earth's prosperity is shown in petro-centric terms, narrated by the space traveler. This is subversive stuff for the Martians, and Mr. Ogg tries to control the spread of this information. But the gospel of free enterprise is sufficient to foment a Martian revolution, and the planet begins to remake itself in a Terrestrial image. Small businesses open and spread throughout Mars, and wildcatters start drilling for oil below the planet's red sands.
This film is decidedly mellower than many of the other films expressing basically the same ideas. It might be argued that the corporations in the U.S. were no longer so worried about losing "what we have," and instead felt that it was now time to think about subverting our adversaries.
Throughout the Fifties and Sixties, the oil industry was far from shy about telling its story to the public. Through the American Petroleum Institute and its Oil Industry Information Committee, a steady flow of booklets, brochures, speeches, press releases, planted news articles, "public service" advertisements and films made the case for oligopolistic ownership and marketing of petroleum. Two supplements on this disc, "Oil Serves You" and "Oil and the American Way" serve as excellent examples of this public relations offensive.
The oil industry made special efforts to draw a link between freedom and prosperity, as long as prosperity was achieved through private enterprise. In Destination Earth, private enterprise (and cheap oil!) is actually pictured as a force sufficiently revolutionary to overthrow repressive societies. The ending might have been different if American oil companies had decided to go into business with Mr. Ogg. Oil companies also boasted about the extent of competition in their industry and extolled its benefits for the consumer. These assertions considerably stretched the truth but achieved credibility through obsessive repetition.
Destination Earth avoids coming off as too doctrinaire or propagandistic through its self-deprecating humor (a trademark of John Sutherland films), but it's still an insidious, self-serving piece of corporate propaganda. It takes the ideas expressed in films like Make Mine Freedom and How to Lose What We Have and takes them one step further, showing free-enterprise ideology not simply as a defense against socialism but as a means of subverting other societies. If you care to read this film as prophetic, you can compare its plot to the course of events following the opening of Eastern Europe in 1989.

EXCELLENT COMMIE PROPAGANDA

Animation Cartoons American Petroleum Institute Petroleum industry Oil industry Space age Space travel Spaceships Space aliens Interplanetary travel Martians Flying saucers Surrealism Science fiction Free enterprise Capitalism Economics Centralized planning Planning Authoritarianism
[American Petroleum Institute presents animated cartoons animation]
[Destination Earth. Color by Technicolor. title cards art cards graphic design science fiction flying saucers spaceships space ships space aliens extraterrestrials Martians earth globes planets]
[Direction: Carl Urbano; Story: Bill Scott, Michael Amestoy, George Gordon; Production Design: Tom Oreb, Vic Haboush; Animation: George Cannata, Ken O'Brien, Bill Higgins, Tom Ray, Russ Von Neida; Backgrounds: Joe Montell; Production Manager: Earl Jonas. Produced by John Sutherland in association with Film Counselors, Inc. ]
"Attention. Attention. This is your beloved leader, Ogg the exalted. [Mars totalitarianism dictators Josef Stalin Communism Stalinism planets flying saucers Welcome to Oggville signs Shop at Oggs Our Great Leader cult of personality loudspeakers Our Glorious Leader Ogg the Great]
There will be a special giant joy rally today at Ogg Memorial Stadium honoring that intrepid space explorer Colonel Cosmic. Hear the Colonel's first words since his return from the planet Earth. [Ogg: friend, leader, crusader banners cosmonauts astronauts parades Oggmart Ogg Cafe]
You are all commanded - er, invited - to attend." [social control weapons coercion totalitarianism]
[Ovation wild applause signs prompters prompting commands]
"Please, please. Thank you for this unsolicited testimonial. And now by special permission of the commander-in-chief - me - here is Mars' first space explorer, Colonel Cosmic." [speeches cosmonauts astronauts]
I can't tell you how happy I am to see your smiling faces once more. [mild applause]
First let me say that this trip was made possible only by our dauntless chief, Ogg the Magnificent, introducer of Ogg power, which runs most of our industry. [human slavery treadmills power generation generators]
And inventor of Ogg speed, which doubles the original Ogg power. A short time ago the master was having trouble with the state limousine. He had, of course, developed the Ogg-plosive charge. But it was inclined to get a little out of hand, just slightly, and of course there was always the problem of friction, parts rubbing together, heating up, and causing all sorts of trouble. [torture pins sticking pain rockets explosions wheels crashes accidents]
[cheers silence]
But our - our leader was undaunted. He immediately ordered our first expedition into space to bring back the secret of how other planets got their state limousines to run smoothly.
The target was picked with painstaking scientific accuracy - destination Earth. [planets]
You all know with what eagerness I volunteered for the mission and with what confidence I took off. I took careful bearings and set out for my goal. It seemed no time till I was approaching a country of Earth called the United States of America. [spaceships rockets space travel globes maps]
I set her down like a feather." [crashes billboards UFOs unidentified flying objects flying saucers]
"What's that, Pa?" "What's all the racket?" "Naturally I protected government property by making the saucer invisible." "They're after the chickens, Ma." [shooting guns bullets ricochets]
"And though the natives showed great interest in me, I decided to make myself invisible, too. Seeing moving lights in the distance, I headed for them. What phenomenal luck - I had landed close to what seemed to be an endless procession of state limousines. [cities automobiles cars traffic driving highways skylines]
They moved quickly and yet with fantastic smoothness. I just had to get a closer look at one of those Earthmobiles. [crashes accidents animation psychedelia psychedelic]
Just as I thought - not only smooth and efficient, but powerful as well. I watched them for hours.
Great Ganymede - they were superb. I just couldn't help comparing them with ours, if you call that a comparison.
Surely these vehicles must be the property of the highest officials. I was wrong. It seems that almost everybody in this country has one of those - uh, they call them automobiles.
They use them for transportation, for business, for pleasure. They use them for all sorts of things. [station wagons kissing Just Married newlyweds tin cans]
I found that these vehicles gather at places called service stations where they are fed, lubricated - that's how they beat friction - and given the finest care. The source of their nourishment was something called petroleum.
A power source like that must be a highly prized state secret. I had to find out about it. Perhaps the secret lay within this government archives building. It was highly guarded, but casting discretion to the winds, I walked boldly inside. [public libraries librarians Public Library gender stereotypes card catalogs invisibility]
Their code was remarkably easy to break. They merely substituted the word "oil" for "petroleum." And I soon got hold of a veritable mine of classified information. [books speedreading speed reading]
I began to assimilate the material. I soon found out that though petroleum products are easily found anywhere, petroleum itself is a very elusive substance. [oil research]
Experts have to search for it constantly in all the most likely and unlikely places, with all kinds of scientific devices. When they figure they've found a good spot, they drill a hole in the ground called an "oil well," for almost all oil lies far beneath the surface of the earth. [oil exploration wildcatting drilling]
These wells go down thousands of feet and cost a lot of money to drill. But that's no guarantee that they're going to find oil.
Matter of fact, in exploratory drilling, only one well in nine finds any oil at all. Only one in forty-four recovers enough oil to pay for itself. And only one in almost a thousand makes a major discovery - pretty big odds.
Yet America's crude reserves - the oil supply still underground - have kept increasing steadily. I couldn't imagine how this ever-increasing supply of oil was achieved until I found out that there's not just one, but thousands of oil companies, all competing with each other to discover and develop new sources of oil. For believe it or not, in the USA, anyone who is willing to risk it can drill for oil. [competition free enterprise]
But oil discovery is only part of the story. Once they get oil out of the ground, it has to be moved through pipelines, on ships, or in tank cars to fantastic processing plants called refineries.
Crude oil goes in, and - great Jupiter - the things that come out. Gasoline, for example, the most efficient mobile power source on Earth.
That was the stuff that powered all those cars and trucks. And asphalt, which makes smooth, durable roads. It seems that oil not only runs cars, it even gives 'em something to run on. [highways]
Another oil product is the diesel fuel which runs giant trains across the nation. In winter, fuel oil made from petroleum brings warmth and comfort to millions of homes. And still other fuels help defend America's shores and skies. [railroads military fighters airplanes]
From refineries also come the lubricating oils and greases that keep the wheels turning in America. But that still isn't all.
Crude oil like everything else is made up of billions of tiny molecules, and using the magic of research, oil companies compete with each other in taking the petroleum molecule apart, and rearranging it into, well, you name it! [chemistry]
Fabrics, toothbrushes, tires, insecticide, cosmetics, weed killers. A whole galaxy of things to make a better life on Earth. [industrial research new products technology]
And you know, it isn't just oil companies that try to outdo each other competing for the customer's dollar. The same story is true of almost every successful business enterprise in America. The result: a higher standard of living in the USA than in any other country on the whole planet. [competition free enterprise consumerism consumers shopping marketing advertising]
At last the secret was mine. And now to get proof of my discovery, smuggle it past the border guards. In spite of my infinite precaution, one of them became suspicious and gave the alarm. [invisibility librarians screams whistles fear]
"Come back for the eggs, didya? Get 'em, Pa." And so with a fond farewell to the natives ringing in my ears, I took off once again for Mars. [spaceships space ships space travel flying saucers crashes]
My landing was a little bumpy, but I saved my precious cargo. Yes, I brought the secrets back with me, and here they are.
The big secret is of course oil, which has brought a better life to all the people in the USA. But the key to making oil work for everybody is competition. Fellow Martians. I thank you." [Story of Oil Competition More For All]
"Very interesting, Colonel. Oil, eh? Sounds splendid. But that, what was it, competition, not our kind of thing at all. Why competition is downright un-Martian." "Oil for everybody. Oh boy, oil." [Martian Oil Explorers. Oil Pioneers. Martian Oil Explorers. Well No. 1 market economy overthrow revolution capitalism small business]
"Look at them. You know what this means, Cosmic?" "You bet I do, Ogg. It means that you are through. [Joe's Cafe. Today's Special. Under New Management.]
So why don't you get lost. Yes, the real secret is not only a great source of energy, but also the freedom to make it work for everybody.
And if you have both of these things, any goal is possible. It's destination unlimited. [Destination unlimited.]
[The End. Presented by Oil Industry Information Committee of the American Petroleum Institute. Copyright 1956.]

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